CityLife

Paolo to bring his sunny side to Apollo

ARDWICK-BOUND: Nutini

IT takes a rare kind of musician to be able to straddle the divide between being in with the in-crowd while they’re fraternising over whiskies with the mainstream, but somehow Paolo Nutini has managed just that.

Take his recent single, Coming Up Easy, which sounded like it was conceived by Paul Weller in a sunny haven in the south east, or the country folk of Candy – one part Fleetwood Mac, one part Caleb Followill – or even Covers, Nutini’s folk pop contribution to second album of fellow Scots The View.

While those influences sound worlds apart, versatile little Paolo has repeatedly proven that he can operate in all of them. It’s a strategy that has even earned him a guest spot with The Rolling Stones and, earlier this week, he announced his desire to add fellow Scots Glasvegas and Franz Ferdinand to his collaborations list.

When you consider the life that Paolo was almost handed – working 12-hour shifts in his dad’s fish and chip shop, a family business he was set to inherit – it’s little wonder he’s aimed for the sky. 

Music was one of his earliest ambitions and his family nurtured it with formal singing lessons.

It paid off from album one, earning These Streets double platinum status and a No.3 position on the pop charts. Follow-up Sunny Side Up beat it, scoring Paolo his first No.1.

Paolo Nutini plays the Apollo on Monday, October 5. £22.50. Call 08444 777 677 to check availability.